Final recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Charnwood in Leicestershire Report to The Electoral Commission June 2002 THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND © Crown Copyright 2002 Applications for reproduction should be made to: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Copyright Unit. The mapping in this report is reproduced from OS mapping by The Electoral Commission with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, © Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence Number: GD 03114G. This report is printed on recycled paper. Report no: 299 2 THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND CONTENTS page WHAT IS THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND? 5 SUMMARY 7 1 INTRODUCTION 13 2 CURRENT ELECTORAL ARRANGEMENTS 15 3 DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS 19 4 RESPONSES TO CONSULTATION 21 5 ANALYSIS AND FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS 23 6 WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? 37 APPENDIX A Final Recommendations for Charnwood: Detailed Mapping 39 A large map illustrating the proposed ward boundaries for Loughborough is inserted inside the back cover of this report. THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND 3 4 THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND WHAT IS THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND? The Boundary Committee for England is a committee of The Electoral Commission, an independent body set up by Parliament under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The functions of the Local Government Commission for England were transferred to The Electoral Commission and its Boundary Committee on 1 April 2002 by the Local Government Commission for England (Transfer of Functions) Order 2001 (SI 2001 No 3692). The Order also transferred to The Electoral Commission the functions of the Secretary of State in relation to taking decisions on recommendations for changes to local authority electoral arrangements and implementing them. Members of the Committee are: Pamela Gordon (Chair) Professor Michael Clarke CBE Kru Desai Robin Gray Joan Jones Ann M Kelly Professor Colin Mellors Archie Gall (Director) We are required by law to review the electoral arrangements of every principal local authority in England. Our aim is to ensure that the number of electors represented by each councillor in an area is as nearly as possible the same, taking into account local circumstances. We can recommend changes to ward boundaries, the number of councillors and ward names. We can also recommend changes to the electoral arrangements of parish and town councils. This report sets out our final recommendations on the electoral arrangements for the borough of Charnwood. THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND 5 6 THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND SUMMARY The Local Government Commission for England (LGCE) began a review of Charnwood’s electoral arrangements on 12 June 2001. It published its draft recommendations for electoral arrangements on 15 January 2002, after which it undertook an eight-week period of consultation. As a consequence of the transfer of functions referred to earlier, it falls to us, The Boundary Committee for England, to complete the work of the LGCE and submit final recommendations to The Electoral Commission. • This report summarises the representations received by the LGCE during consultation on its draft recommendations, and contains our final recommendations to The Electoral Commission. We found that the existing arrangements provide unequal representation of electors in Charnwood: • in 19 of the 29 wards the number of electors represented by each councillor varies by more than 10 per cent from the average for the borough and 11 wards vary by more than 20 per cent; • by 2006 this situation is not expected to significantly improve, with the number of electors per councillor forecast to vary by more than 10 per cent from the average in 15 wards and by more than 20 per cent in 11 wards. Our main final recommendations for future electoral arrangements (see Tables 1 and 2 and paragraphs 98-99) are that: • Charnwood Borough Council should have 52 councillors, the same as at present; • there should be 28 wards, instead of 29 as at present; • the boundaries of 22 of the existing wards should be modified, resulting in a net reduction of one, and seven wards should retain their existing boundaries; • elections should continue to take place every four years. The purpose of these proposals is to ensure that, in future, each borough councillor represents approximately the same number of electors, bearing in mind local circumstances. • In 23 of the proposed 28 wards the number of electors per councillor would vary by no more than 10 per cent from the borough average. • This improved level of electoral equality is forecast to improve, with the number of electors per councillor in all wards expected to vary by more than 10 per cent from the average for the borough in 2006. Recommendations are also made for changes to parish and town council electoral arrangements that provide for: • revised warding arrangements and the redistribution of councillors for the parishes of Mountsorrel, Rothley, Shepshed, Sileby, Syston and Thurmaston. THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND 7 All further correspondence on these final recommendations and the matters discussed in this report should be addressed to The Electoral Commission, to arrive no later than July 18 2002: The Secretary The Electoral Commission Trevelyan House Great Peter Street London SW1P 2HW 8 THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND Table 1: Final Recommendations: Summary Ward name Number of Constituent areas Map reference councillors 1 Anstey 2 The parish of Anstey Map 2 Barrow & Sileby The parish of Barrow-upon-Soar; part of Sileby parish (the 2 2 Map 2 West proposed Sileby West parish ward) Part of Birstall parish (the proposed Birstall Goscote 3 Birstall Wanlip 2 parish ward; Birstall Greengate parish ward); the parish of Map 2 Wanlip Part of Birstall parish (the proposed Birstall Netherall 4 Birstall Watermead 2 parish ward; Birstall Riverside parish ward; Birstall Map 2 Stonehill parish ward) 5 East Goscote 1 Unchanged – the parish of East Goscote Map 2 The parishes of Newtown Linford, Ulverscroft and 6 Forest Bradgate 1 Map 2 Woodhouse Loughborough Map 2 & 7 2 Part of Ashby ward; part of Garendon ward Ashby Large Map Loughborough The parish of Hathern and an unparished part of Map 2 & 8 2 Dishley & Hathern Loughborough Large Map Loughborough Map 2 & 9 2 Part of Ashby ward; part of Garendon ward Garendon Large Map Loughborough Map 2 & 10 2 Unchanged – Hastings ward Hastings Large Map Loughborough Map 2 & 11 2 Unchanged – Lemyngton ward Lemyngton Large Map Loughborough Map 2 & 12 2 Part of Nanpantan ward; part of Ashby ward Nanpantan Large Map Loughborough Part of Outwoods ward; part of Southfields ward; part of Map 2 & 13 2 Outwoods Woodthorpe ward Large Map Loughborough Map 2 & 14 2 Part of Outwoods ward; part of Woodthorpe ward Shelthorpe Large Map Loughborough Part of Southfields ward; part of Storer ward; part of Map 2 & 15 2 Southfields Woodthorpe ward Large Map Loughborough Map 2 & 16 2 Part of Hathern ward; part of Storer ward Storer Large Map Part of Mountsorrel parish (the proposed Mountsorrel 17 Mountsorrel 2 Map 2 parish ward) Unchanged – the parishes of Barkby, Barkby Thorpe, 18 Queniborough 1 Map 2 Beeby, Queniborough and South Croxton Quorn & Mountsorrel The parish of Quorn; part of Mountsorrel parish (the 19 2 Map 2 Castle proposed Mountsorrel Castle parish ward) Rothley & The parishes of Rothley, Swithland and Thurcaston & 20 2 Map 2 Thurcaston Cropston Part of Shepshed parish (the proposed Shepshed East 21 Shepshed East 2 Map 2 parish ward) Part of Shepshed parish (the proposed Shepshed West 22 Shepshed West 2 Map 2 parish ward) Part of Sileby parish (the Sileby St Gregory’s and Sileby 23 Sileby 2 Map 2 St Mary’s parish wards) THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND 9 Ward name Number of Constituent areas Map reference councillors Part of Syston parish (the proposed Merton and St Peter’s 24 Syston East 2 Map 2 East parish wards) Part of Syston parish (the proposed New Barkby and St 25 Syston West 2 Map 2 Peter’s West parish wards) Unchanged – the parishes of Burton on the Wolds, Cotes, 26 The Wolds 1 Map 2 Hoton, Prestwold, Walton on the Wolds and Wymeswold 27 Thurmaston 3 Unchanged – the parish of Thurmaston Map 2 Unchanged – the parishes of Cossington, Ratcliffe on 28 Wreake Villages 1 the Wreake, Rearsby, Seagrave and Thrussington Map 2 Notes: 1 Loughborough is the only unparished part of the borough and comprises the 10 wards of Loughborough Ashby, Loughborough Garendon, Loughborough Hastings, Loughborough Lymyngton, Loughborough Nanpantan, Loughborough Outwoods, Loughborough Shelthorpe, Loughborough Southfields, Loughborough Storer and part of the ward of Loughborough Dishley & Hathern. 2 Map 2 and Appendix A, including the large map in the back of the report, illustrate the proposed wards outlined above. We have made a number of minor boundary amendments to ensure that existing ward boundaries adhere to ground detail. 10 THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND Table 2: Final Recommendations for Charnwood Ward name Number Electorate Number of Variance Electorate Number of Variance of (2001) electors per from (2006) electors from councillors councillor average per average councillor % % 1 Anstey 2 4,664 2,332 0 4,621 2,311 -5 Barrow & Sileby 2 2 4,532 2,266 -3 4,543 2,272 -6 West 3 Birstall Wanlip 2 4,122 2,061 -12 4,937 2,469 2 4 Birstall Watermead 2 5,192 2,596 11 5,171 2,586 7 5 East Goscote 1 2,176 2,176 -7 2,289 2,289 -6 6 Forest Bradgate